Refiners in China, the world's top oil importer, have enough supply on hand to weather near-term disruption from the Iran conflict, bolstered by recent record purchases of Iranian and Russian crude and
Refiners in China, the world's top oil importer, have enough supply on hand to weather near-term disruption from the Iran conflict, bolstered by recent record purchases of Iranian and Russian crude and robust government stockpiling, traders said.
A prolonged supply disruption could, however, force the country's refiners to curb output and run down commercial stockpiles, some of the traders said.
China has around 900 million barrels in strategic inventories, or 78 days' worth of imports, according to estimates by Vortexa and traders.
Its independent refiners, known as teapots, are the main market for Iranian oil that trades at a deep discount thanks to U.S. sanctions that scare off most buyers, with record volumes in floating storage or on the way to China.
“Iran has boosted exports since mid-February and private refineries will still have access to around 30 million barrels of Iranian floating storage, most of which is off Malaysia and China,” said Sun Jianan, senior analyst at Energy Aspects.
Chinese traders were mostly on the sidelines on Monday, seeking to digest the impact of the joint U.S.-Israel air war against Iran, Tehran's retaliatory strikes in the Gulf and the conflict expanding into Lebanon. Oil prices were up 9%.
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